Serenading a Glowing Sky

New York Philharmonic Concert in Prospect Park

New York Philharmonic: Dylan and Jocelyn Avila wave glow sticks during the orchestra’s concert in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, on Wednesday.Credit
Joshua Bright for The New York Times

When the New York Philharmonic decided last summer to forgo its annual cycle of concerts in the city’s parks, a hue and cry resounded far and wide. Instead of touring the five boroughs, the orchestra chose to mount and televise a solemn, uplifting performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and to pad the coffers with an engagement backing the popular Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

It was, we were led to believe, the end of an era: the passing of a time in which the Philharmonic reached out beyond its four walls to greet and engage the masses who visit Lincoln Center rarely if at all. In The New York Times Anthony Tommasini wrote an impassioned defense of the parks concerts and their worth. Alan Gilbert, the Philharmonic’s music director, felt compelled to respond, distancing himself from the cancellation and promising the concerts’ return.

True to Mr. Gilbert’s word, on Wednesday evening the Philharmonic took to a stage erected on a ball field of the sweeping Long Meadow in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, to play for an audience of 20,000, according to a police estimate. Prefaced with ardent welcomes and benefactor salutes from Matthew VanBesien, the orchestra’s new executive director; Adrian Benepe, the city’s departing parks commissioner; and Marty Markowitz, the rumbustious Brooklyn borough president, the parks tour was back.

Now can we be real for a moment? Yes, the Philharmonic’s concerts are among the organization’s most visible shows of generosity. Yes, surely many thousands of New Yorkers are exposed to their city’s world-class orchestra only through these alfresco engagements. And yes, on a gorgeous night like this one, there are far worse pastimes than sitting amid greenery under an evening sky streaked in shades of slate and lox.

Photo

Classical alfresco: Feeling the spirit of the New York Philharmonic’s first outdoor concert of the summer, in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.Credit
Joshua Bright for The New York Times

But for anyone hoping to hear classical music done well, tetchy reviewers included, huge outdoor events are as much trials to be endured as treats to be savored.

The sound, even as propagated by a well-managed amplification system, presents a patchy unreality. Here the mighty horn calls that open Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 sounded as if they were played through coffee cans. Flutes were abnormally loud; strings unusually reticent. The situation improved during the second movement, but on the whole all matters involving subtlety were sacrificed to the setting.

Lovers of historical recordings insist that a passionate listener can hear a great performance through any amount of noise. But trying to listen to tinny Tchaikovsky over the buzz of conversation, on top of the hoots and shrieks of boys kicking a soccer ball about three bus lengths away from the stage, was more daunting than trying to glean magic through surface crackle.

Then again, close followers of the Philharmonic will have heard Mr. Gilbert’s formidably unsentimental Fourth Symphony in May, when it figured in two sets of Avery Fisher Hall concerts and the orchestra’s free Memorial Day outing at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.

The remaining works on the program, Respighi’s “Fountains of Rome” and “Pines of Rome,” benefited from a settled-in sound system and an audience becalmed by nightfall. Both works were filled with felicitous details — delectable solos from principal strings and winds, brash colors, hardy rhythms, robust climaxes — as well as surreal moments like a sole piccolo player handily defeating an entire string section.

I cannot remember a more physically extroverted podium showing from Mr. Gilbert than the sweeping, swirling conductor-fu on display during the closing movement, “Pines of the Appian Way.” On the available evidence his accounts of these dazzling showpieces were energized and detailed. I look forward to hearing them revealed during the orchestra’s season-opening gala in September. But here the real sparks came during the fireworks ignited at concert’s end.

The New York Philharmonic performs this program in Central Park on Friday evening; (212) 875-5656, nyphil.org.